Objectivation and subjectivation of consumers in commercial devices

In this chapter, we introduce Michel Foucault's concept of dispositif, and the notions of objectification and subjectivation. We detail how the theory of the dispositif enables us to think about consumption.

Objectification is the result of external action on the subject, constituted as an object of knowledge and the exercise of power (Vihalem, 2011). It consists in recognizing specific traits and evaluating, categorizing individuals in order to classify them. For example, having been objectified as "abnormal", patients declared ill see themselves as abnormal subjects, and through their own subjectivation, define and represent themselves as abnormal (Foucault, 1961). In consumer research, the objectification of consumers is an important governing technique implemented by marketing. From this perspective, critical marketing research has shown, for example, that Consumer Relationship Management tools (Pridmore and Zwick, 2011; Zwick and Knott, 2009) and loyalty programs (Beckett, 2012; Beckett and Nayak, 2008; Gicquel, 2017) are means that enable an accumulation of knowledge about consumers in order to categorize them.

This work of segmentation, to use marketing terminology, enables certain powers to be exercised over consumers according to the producers' priority interests. Ball (2005) takes up Haggerty and Ericson's (2000) research on "surveillance assemblies" and shows that the "biopower" at work in biometric techniques uses Big Data to reinforce consumer control. Caught up in this panoptic system, the objectification of the consumer produces a "digital double" (Haggery and Ericson, 2000) from which the manager reflects on his actions.

The subject is not just an object of knowledge: an initial body of work focuses on the rise of a "new consumer", based on the observation that reflexive and collaborative consumption extends consumer choice and therefore freedom (Cova and Cova, 2009; Peppers and Rogers, 1993). Subsequently, researchers describe a more empowered consumer (consumer empowerment), who can freely exercise choice among competing producers and also uses his or her skills to co-create supply (Cova and Cova, 2012; Cova and Pace, 2006; Shankar, Cherrier and Canniford, 2006).

A second body of work presents a contrario governmentality in autonomous consumption practices, emphasizing the ambiguity of agency and therefore of real possibilities for subjectivation in devices. According to this proposal, the figures of the consumer - whether "new", "powerful", "free" or "responsible" - are above all constructed by marketing and consumer research. The "public" (Cochoy, 2004) and the "general public" are also constructs that make it possible to establish management strategies and means of investigation (Rémy and Mallard, 2001). Consumers' social identity and class membership are constructed in the devices of luxury retail outlets (Dion and Borraz 2017).

Although it seems rich in practical applications, the concept of the device has been little used in consumer research. By being associated with the two modes of subjectivation and objectivation, this conceptual framework nevertheless enables the study of a wide variety of market environments, which we invite researchers to explore. It does, however, allow us to move away from the binary alternative between marketing-manipulation and consumption-emancipation, by simultaneously presenting the effects of control inherent in any market offer and the possibilities for consumer agency and resistance.